Tag: Nigeria

Nigeria: religious leaders unite in ‘Appeal of Peace’ after violence in Jos

September 26, 2017 Nigeria Jos, Nigeria, Plateau

Nigeria’s Christian and Muslim leaders have called for peace following a recent surge of violence in the central state of Plateau. On 14 September, three people lost their lives after an eruption of inter-religious violence in the city of Jos, which followed the massacre of about 20 Christians by Fulani . . . Read More

Nigerian government has failed to counteract violence of Fulani herdsmen – ICG report

September 21, 2017 Nigeria Agatu, ECWA, Fulani herdsmen, Kaduna, Kafanchan, Middle Belt, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria

In Nigeria, it isn’t only the northeast regions, stronghold of the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram, that have witnessed severe violence. The Middle Belt of the country, which straddles the divide between the largely Muslim north and the majority-Christian south, is also the scene of ever-continuing violence between settled farmers, . . . Read More

Nigeria: calm returns to Jos after eruption of violence that threatened the nation

September 19, 2017 Nigeria Christian Association of Nigeria, Church of Christ in Nigeria, Igbo, Jama'atu Nasril Islam, Jos, Katsina, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Plateau, Zamfara

A sense of normality has returned to the city of Jos, in Nigeria’s central Plateau State, after an eruption of inter-religious violence claimed at least three lives on 14 September. One of them was Jerry Binkur, a final-year student at the University of Jos, who was a member of the . . . Read More

Award for man who brokered release of Chibok girls

September 19, 2017 Nigeria Chibok girls, Maiduguri, Nigeria, Rebecca Dali, Refugees, UN

Mr Mustapha and his son who in a nursery class at the school. Future Prowess Islamic Foundation School (I), Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. 17 May 2017

A 58-year-old Nigerian lawyer who brokered the release of 82 Chibok girls taken hostage by Boko Haram has been named as the 2017 winner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) Nansen Refugee Award. Zannah Mustapha won the prestigious honour, which recognises extraordinary humanitarian work on behalf of . . . Read More

Freed Chibok girls finally head to university and home

September 14, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, Chibok girls, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Yola

Some of the Chibok girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in April 2014 will start at the American University in Yola, Adamawa state this month, the Nigerian government says. Of the 276 girls abducted three years ago, 106 have been either found or freed so far. Eighty-two girls were released in . . . Read More

Nigerian government ‘complicit’ in ‘stealth jihad’, say Christian leaders

September 13, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, ECWA, Fulani herdsmen, Islamic extremism, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria

A group representing senior Christians in Nigeria has accused the government of trying to Islamise the country. In a statement on 6 September, ‘Jihad in Nigeria: burying the head in sand’, the National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF) said jihad threatened the unity of the country. NCEF is composed of a number . . . Read More

Nigeria: when Fulani herdsmen and farmers clash

September 11, 2017 Nigeria Benue, ECWA, Fulani herdsmen, Kaduna, Middle Belt, Nasarawa, Nigeria

Fulani cattle herds in Bauchi State, northern Nigeria, July 2016 (Open Doors International)

Many experts on Nigeria now believe that violence across the Middle Belt, which World Watch Monitor has reported at length, has been responsible for more deaths than Boko Haram. As Emmanuel Akinwotu wrote last year in the New Statesman, the conflict – between ‘indigenous’ settled farmers (mainly Christian) and nomadic . . . Read More

5 Things to know about violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt

September 11, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen, Iran, Islamic extremism, Kaduna, Middle Belt, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Taraba, West Africa

A village head inside his destroyed home in one of the villages in Southern Kaduna that were attacked by Fulani herdsmen, in May 2017. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

In northern Nigeria, targeted violence against Christians comes not only from the Islamic militants of Boko Haram. Clashes with militants among the predominantly Muslim Fulani herdsmen have claimed thousands of Christian lives in Nigeria’s Middle Belt – the handful of states straddling the pre-colonial line dividing Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north from . . . Read More

Fulani’s family had him jailed on false charges – because he’s a Christian

September 11, 2017 Nigeria Converts, Fulani herdsmen, Islamic extremism, Jos, Nigeria, Sharia

A Fulani boy herding cattle in Bauchi State, northern Nigeria.

Belonging to the ethnic Fulani tribe means you are almost certainly Muslim. When Bulus*, a Nigerian living in northern Bauchi State, decided he wanted to become a Christian, he was not only ostracised by his family – they also made sure he ended up in prison on false charges. Bulus’ . . . Read More

‘There will never be peace for Nigeria’s Middle Belt unless there’s equality and justice’

September 11, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, ECWA, Fulani herdsmen, Islamic extremism, Kaduna, Middle Belt, Nigeria, Sahel, West Africa

Obscured by Boko Haram’s headlines, violence has also raged further south, in Nigeria’s Middle Belt: a less reported, years-long campaign which experts now believe has been responsible for more deaths than Boko Haram. Militants among the ethnic Fulani, a predominantly Muslim and nomadic population of cattle herders, are suspected of targeting . . . Read More

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